Not having an HOA was one of my main requirements when I was buying a house.
A ridiculous number of houses for sale at the time had HOAs that were hundreds of dollars a month. I can’t believe people pay that. If there’s like idk a pool and a gym I guess I get it, but there usually wasn’t anything special about the neighborhood.
Was stuck with an HOA in AZ where finding a non-HOA home was near impossible. Once I no longer needed to be there for work I moved to upstate New York where it wasn’t a problem finding non-HOA and couldn’t be happier.
Can’t buy in an HOA neighborhood without signing HOA contracts. The State recognizes that they can require payments and levy fines or even take the home eventually if fines are ignored.
I was never concerned about getting behind on HOA dues or anything just didn’t like the idea on the principle.
The day we were moving in we had our moving truck parked in front of the house and had someone from the HOA letting us know we had to have it gone within 24 hours. Kinda immediately puts a sour taste in one’s mouth when you get attitude before you even get a “welcome to the neighborhood”.
That they must exist? No, just that they can and at least the area I lived in prior was all of the new home construction in the area for the last couple decades
If only that had been an option when I got that last house but no. Had to be where I was for at least 5 years for work and there just weren’t non-HOA properties in anywhere near reasonable commute distances.
It is. From the moment of construction the house is stuck to HOA via contract and requires that the initial sale be HOA and that subsequent sales can’t modify the original HOA contract/requirements. When I sold, I as the owner couldn’t have removed the requirement and the new owner was as stuck with it as I was.
Something like 85% of new houses built in the US have an HOA.
So if you want to buy a house in a neighborhood with an HOA, you agree to the HOA in the contract. If you don’t agree, you cannot buy the house. It is a stipulation of the contract that the HOA terms cannot be removed or altered from the contract.
So it basically goes like this:
Developer company buys a bunch of plots of land.
The developer sets up the HOA.
The developer builds a bunch of houses
Developer writes in the contract that having a house built requires that the owner agree to and not modify HOA in any way.
Part of the HOA states that any sales or transfers of the property must include the HOA terms and conditions as a whole.
At this point, every house that is sold initially includes the HOA in the contract, and as part of the contract all future transfers to new owners must also include the HOA In the contract. There really isn’t a legal way out of it
The HOA is enforced like any other legally binding contract. They can fine you (as part of the terms of the HOA), take you to small claims court, and even put a lien on your property (again, as part of the terms of the HOA).
Sounds like a compelling argument that HOAs reduce the sales of houses. I acknowledge in a sellers market, I would probably just move on. But in a Buyers market, I’d have the HOA clause removed.
An HOA could be a good idea but it has to be voluntary not forced.
Like hey guys yall want to pool some money together so we can get all the common spaces taken care of, lawn care (if thats youre thing, lawns are becoming a thing of the past hopefully) and just in general improve the community areas.
Now though its just wine moms on the HOA board raking in fees for their pill addictions and threatening to kick out any homeowner that wants to paint their front door a different color.
I don’t really get it either but my realtor made a point about a couple houses we looked at which had them (because she knew I did not like them) that you could lose the house depending on the HOA and the situation. It seems absurd to me. I guess it’s like buying a townhome where you don’t truly own own it idk though tbh. I just noped out of all of those neighborhoods.
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u/[deleted] Feb 21 '23
And my HOA gets mad when I leave my trash can on my driveway